4:15 pm

Ella couldn't see a thing out her window. The gray sky had opened up and flurries of powder were descending on the dark landscape. The lamps in the parking lot were obscured and the few cars remaining were quickly disappearing under the white onslaught from above. Swearing silently to herself, she realized that she should’ve left much earlier. 

Footsteps approached from behind her, “What are you still doing here?” a male voice asked. 

Ella’s coworker, Jim was standing behind her chair. She could feel all six feet of him towering over in her short office chair. Her brown eyes stared up defiantly into his hazel ones. 

“I could ask you the same,” she replied. 

“I don’t have any way home. My ride is stuck,” he said with a shy smile.  

Staring up into his frustrating adorable face, she was struck by the thought that maybe this wasn’t an accident. They had been eyeing each other up in the office for months, both pretending not to notice the other. She found herself drawn to his uniquely effortless appearance and dark sense of humor. His tall slim frame hinted at some type of sport played on the weekends, and his longish hair framed his constant five o’clock shadow perfectly. 

His observation of her was also noticed. The way he cleared his throat if she bent over slightly and let her skirt ride up. His eyes traveling up her legs and curves as she walked by him. She even caught him once or twice staring at her abundant chest in meetings. Most importantly, he actually made the effort to hide it, whereas some of the other men in the office didn’t. That earned him big points in her book. Shy and modest were always more of a turn-on than the loud and grabby types. 

“Well, I’m about to hit the road. Do you want to ride with me? I think you live close to my house?” Ella said before she could think about it. 

“Yeah, maybe five minutes away. The next town over. But that’s still half an hour from here in good weather. Are you sure you wanna go? It’s probably safer to stay here and wait it out.”

“Hell no. They don’t pay me enough to sleep in this dump. I have a four-wheel drive and a shovel. I will find a way,” she said as she started gathering up her stuff. For some reason, he looked disappointed. Maybe she had misread the situation. 

“Well, then I guess I have to go with you. You will need someone to help push you out when you get stuck.” He walked off to get his bag. 

Ella remote started her car and could hear all the “driving in the snow” warnings in her head. She wandered off to the kitchen to grab some water and snacks and then scooped up the blanket from under her desk. 

She tried not to think about spending time in close quarters with Jim. He was without a doubt her favorite person in the office, but she was very careful to keep him at arm's length. She knew better than to get involved with someone at work. 

He was waiting at the door and neither of them wanted to go out into the storm. It was pitch black out now, with only the dim building lights showing the snow. Laughing nervously, they pushed open the door and went out into the snow. 

4:55 pm

The car was finally clear and they were buckled in the front seat of her SUV. He had to move his seat all the way back to accommodate his height. She expertly accelerated through the ruts they dug out and pulled onto the eerily deserted street. The plan was to make it to the highway where the plows had probably already cleared out the worst of the snow. But first, they had to make it down a couple of miles of buried side streets. 

“This isn’t half as bad with company,” she joked as they skidded down another street. He was unusually quiet and seemed a little nervous in the weather. But she was confident, expertly maneuvering around abandoned cars towards the highway. Several times he grabbed the edge of the seat when she skidded. On one particularly bad slide, he grabbed her shoulder for a second. She pretended not to notice and kept her eyes on the road. 

When they reached the entrance to the highway the barely noticeable ramp was piled high with snow. The plows must have been out because the bar closing it wasn’t down blocking the entrance. She accelerated down on to the highway and much to her surprise, the road wasn’t any clearer. There wasn’t a plow or another vehicle in sight and the snow was thicker than the road above. 

The SUV went about a quarter-mile before the snow began to pile up in front of the bumper. She guided it to the edge of the road as it became obvious they were about to get stuck. Just as they reached the shoulder, the car stopped pushing the snow ahead of them and just stopped. There was about three feet of snow in front of the car now. 

5:35 pm

“Well, it’s a good thing I brought snacks, the plows will be through soon and we can go,” she said, reaching over to turn on the traffic channel. She passed Jim a bottle of water as the radio started to cycle through the messages. 

“...Highway is now closed with most of the plows digging out south of the city. It will reopen in two hours if they can clear a path. Driving bans are in effect. Please avoid driving at all costs...”

She switched the radio back to low music. 

“Well, I guess that means we’re stuck for at least two hours,” she laughed nervously. “I better go dig out the exhaust pipe.” He stared at her for a few minutes, trying to decide if she was serious when she popped open the door. 

For ten minutes, she walked around the car making sure the exhaust pipe was clear so she could keep the car running and not die of carbon monoxide. When she was finished, her hands and jacket were soaked and she was freezing. 

She hopped back in the car and cranked up the heat, draping her wet jacket over the back vents. 

“Here, let me help,” he said, grabbing her frozen hands between his warm ones and rubbing them back and forth. The sensation of his hands on hers made her forget that she was in a car, stuck in the snowstorm. She tried to draw her hands back so she could think better and he didn’t let them go. 

“Not warm yet.” 

His eyes met hers and her heart skipped three beats. He smiled and drew her hands closer, running his fingers up over her wrists and forearms. The sensation was very intimate and she had to close her eyes so she wasn’t staring into his honey-colored eyes. This felt so wrong. He was a coworker. Probably married. She knew she shouldn’t have offered him a ride. 

She opened her eyes and he was giving her a wicked smile. 

“Better?”

Her hands, face, and everywhere else was perfectly warm. She continued to watch him as he twisted out of his jacket and button-down shirt, leaving just a plain black T-shirt on. She couldn’t look away as she saw the promise of his body underneath. He knew she was watching him and the wicked smile was still there. She wanted to jump across the seat and take off the rest of his clothes. 

“It’s warm in here with the heater going.”

Her head cleared slightly. She tried to snap back to reality and turned the car off. “Oh right, ten on, ten off so we don’t run out of gas. It should also keep us from getting too hot.”

“Will it?” His face was pure mischief now as he placed his hand back on her wrist, rubbing his thumb back and forth; she could swear she felt the sensation somewhere else. It was like every nerve ending was on fire and reaching out for him. 

“Oh hell,” she said out loud and pulled her hand away and covered her face. She didn’t trust what her face might be saying at that moment. She felt his hand near her just before he ran two fingers down the back of her neck and just under her shirt. The jolt went all the way down her spine and she shivered. 

“Are you okay?” he whispered with his lips brushing her ear gently. 

Her resolve broke. She turned her head so that her lips landed on his and used her hands to cup his face so he couldn't pull back. He didn’t, so she kissed him deeply, and he gave it right back to her. It felt so good to have her hands on his roughly shaven face and his lips under hers. He tasted like mint and earth and she could smell his cologne or shampoo or whatever the woodsy smell of his skin was. 

He made a soft moaning sound and she let her hands move to his shoulders as his hands moved up into her dark hair, knocking her snow hat to the floor. She wanted to get closer to him and used his shoulders to give her leverage to lift herself over the center console, clumsily landing on his lap, straddling him. 

He caught her hips and she could feel him pressing up through his pants. There was no doubt that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. She broke the kiss to try and remove his shirt but his lips found her neck first. He worked his way over her collarbone and down the neck of her white button-down shirt. His hands worked at undoing her buttons as he went. 

Not to be outdone, her hands made their way up the back of his shirt. His body shuddered under her hands as her nails grazed down his spine. Finally, her shirt was unbuttoned and she helped him slide it off her, leaving just a pink and black lace bra underneath. As he took in the view, she grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it up over his head. He was wonderfully warm after the cold of being outside, and she pressed herself against him like a cat cuddling up as she kissed his down his jawline and neck. 

His hands reached back and fumbled with the clasp of her bra. She felt the clasp give and the straps fall, but nothing moved as she kept herself pressed against him. She tried to kiss his mouth again, but he moved his head so that he could go back to kissing her neck. It felt so good that she leaned back enough to give his hands room to cup her full DDs in his hands. 

The sensation was incredible and she closed her eyes for a minute as those amazing hands played with her breasts. His hands circled her back and brought her up so she was kneeling on the seat, giving him full access to thoroughly kiss each exposed breast one at a time, making her squirm in his arms. 

She could feel herself getting wetter and had a strong desire to get out of the rest of her clothes. Placing a hand on his chest, she pushed him away gently so that she could unbutton her pants. Leaning into his shoulder, she somehow managed to slide them off, leaving her with just black lace panties on. His hands immediately explored her newly exposed butt as she worked on the button and zipper on his jeans. Lifting his hips, she was able to pull them down to his knees and he shook them off the rest of the way, leaving himself with just green and blue plaid boxers. 

She kissed him again, gently, as her hand reached under his waistband and found him hard and waiting. A small sigh of desire escaped her as she pushed the boxers down and drew him out to stroke him gently. He made a small groan of pleasure and she didn't want to wait anymore. To hell with what it would mean at work; all that mattered was right now. 

Sliding forward in the seat, she moved the edge of her panties aside and guided him to her opening. She was so wet she easily slid down over the entire length of him, despite his above-average length. The push of him inside was so satisfying that she paused for a moment just to enjoy the feeling of fullness.

Slowly she started rocking back and forth in the chair, moving her hips in a fluid motion. He seemed to be holding his breath and grabbed onto her hips for support, encouraging them to move faster. She leaned into his chest and put her hands on his shoulders for support as she bounced gently up and down. A deep moan escaped him as his hands tried to urge her to go faster. He went back to kissing her neck and started grazing her neck with his teeth. 

She started moving faster and faster, driving down on him and pushing him back into the seat. Her hands held the back of his neck and she thrust down harder and harder. Just as she was about to go over the edge, she heard him moan loudly into her ear and felt his release. It sent her over the edge and she let out a sound somewhere between a moan and a scream as she came all over his lap.

6:45 pm

They stayed in that position for a few minutes while they caught their breath. Her head rested on his shoulder as his chest rose and fell beneath hers. Gradually, they became aware of how cold it was in the car and she started to shiver in his lap. He reached back behind the driver seat and grabbed the blanket from the office. Draping it around her, he gently picked her up the best he could from that position and put her in back in the driver’s seat. 

“Hmmm…” she said, still on the edge of her pleasure. 

“Mmmhmmm,” he replied with a half-laugh as he tucked himself back into place and pulled his jeans back on. Sliding his shirt and jacket back on, he grabbed the shovel and went out to clear around the car. 

Ella cleaned herself up the best she could and tried to get dressed again. Her brain seemed to be moving in slow motion. Once the tailpipe was clear, she started the car and cranked the heat back up. Just as he opened the door to get back in, a trio of snowplows drove by, clearing their path back to the road. 

“You drive, I’ll push,” he said with a wink and went back behind the car. Three pushes and they were back on the newly cleared road. 

As he got back in she asked,  “So you don’t like driving in the snow, huh?”

“I may have warmed up to it now.” 

She laughed and accelerated down the clear and empty highway, knowing full well that she was going to insist he stay at her place tonight.